burnnoticefandomcom-20200214-history
Michael Westen
Michael Alan Westen is the main protagonist and narrator in the television series Burn Notice. He is portrayed by Jeffrey Donovan. Overview ﻿Early History Michael was born in Miami (01/07/1967). He is the eldest of the two sons to Frank and Madeline Westen. He suffered a disfunctional childhood due to his father, Frank Westen, beating him, and his brother Nate Westen repeatedly as a measure of obedience, as well as taking advantage of them for his own gain (In one instance having Michael fake a seizure inside a Mr. Goodwrench store so Frank could steal spark plugs for his custom-built Charger). Frank died two years after Michael became a spy, but Michael refused to attend his funeral despite his mother's protests. However, after being burned, and persistent persuasion from his mother, Madeline Westen, Michael did visit his father's grave; eight years after missing the funeral. He stated the "Beloved" term placed on his gravestone was "a bit of a stretch", he nevertheless gruffly thanked his father for the Charger, which his mother claimed Frank wanted him to have. His mother is neurotic and a hypochondriac. His younger brother, Nate, is a compulsive gambler and later petty criminal and con-artist, who had a history of stealing from Michael to fund his gambling addiction. ﻿Career Michael enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 17, wishing to get away from his father. Leaving with nothing but $50 and a change of clothes, Michael never turned back, and vowed to never return to Miami. He was an Army Ranger, and served in Special Forces. After a stint in the Army Combat Applications Group, Michael became a Covert Intelligence Operative for the CIA eventually becoming a high level field agent. He later claimed that he was happiest when he was in a different hemisphere from the rest of his family. For the next 10 years, Michael served the United States of America in covert operations all over the world, though mostly in Eastern Europe and the OPEC countries. He was also known to have conducted operations in Africa and Ireland, the latter of which being where he met Fiona Glenanne. Over the course of his career, Michael was very proficient as a covert operative. It was revealed in Past & Future Tense by a Russian operative named Alexi that his name was known by everyone in Russian Special Forces and was described as "like the boogeyman: Not real." Although the details of most of his operations are still unknown, one of them was in Kiev in 1993. At this time, a team of Spetsnaz, the top Russian operatives, tried to sell a warhead. During this operation, Michael shot one of the team and no one ever saw them again. Michael believes his unhappy childhood, mostly his father's responsibility, has helped make him into a natural covert operative, though as a result, it has made relationships difficult for him. With time, Michael became a cynic hardened by experience, though also soon reveals he has a soft, and sometimes vulnerable side. ﻿Blacklisting While on assignment in Nigeria, Michael was paying off a Nigerian warlord. During the money transfer Michael's CIA contact informed him the mission was off, they had a burn notice on him. The warlord he was dealing with did not like that Michael wasn't able to provide what he had promised and proceeded to beat him. Michael narrowly escaped from him. He was severely beaten before escaping to the airport where he caught a plane. Once on the plane, he passed out and was then effectively dumped in his hometown of Miami without money or resources, unable to leave or risk "disappearing" completely. Having been burned, his bank accounts seized, and his assets frozen, Michael is cut off from all of his contacts and flagged on every government list. Every spy's worst nightmare. Current Status After taking down The Organization, Michael is, officially, still burned but he is unofficially working with the CIA as a freelance spy. However, since Kessler, the leader of The Organization, killed himself before he could be apprehended, Michael is left without an answer as to why he was burned and put through such an ordeal for the last four years. After killing his mentor Tom Card for hiring a hitman to kill Michael, Michael has made a deal with the CIA to go to the Dominican Republic and help the CIA track down a terrorist in exchange for the freedom of his friends. If he does not do so then he and his friends will be sent back to the CIA holding facility forever. After escaping the boathouse with James and Sonya, Michael told them the truth, that he is working with the CIA. James didn't believe it was all a lie, since Michael saved him from being captured, double crossing CIA in the process. Michael said that he wasted his life for a 'lie' since he saw that CIA went too far by hiring Simon. James began trusting him again and Michael became a real member of the Organization. When Michael and Sonya put a plan (to let the CIA capture James, getting them of there backs) in motion, Fiona interupted the plan by coming to the building trying to convience Michael to change his way. Sonya snapped at the sight of her and moments later raised a gun on her, but Michael killed Sonya before she could pull the trigger, betraying the Organization and changing sides. After capturing James (wounded), he pulls off a dead man's switch and lets it go, causing the whole building to explode, apparently killing Michael and Fiona. Strong said that Michael would get a star on CIA memorial as a hero to his country. Funeral is held for Madeline, Michael and Fiona. Later it's revealed that Michael and Fiona are alive, having escaped the building moments before it exploded. They took Charlie and settled down in a unkwown location (presumably Ireland). Personality Having endured a horrible childhood which also involved him suffering regular beatings at the hands of his deceased father, Frank, Michael has become something of a distant character, afraid to commit to a long-term relationship or to let anyone get too close to him. Michael demonstrates indomitable will and resourcefulness to accomplish his goals. He virtually lost everything he worked so hard to build as a spy when he was burned such as his official CIA position, finance, reputation, and freedom having been confined to Miami. Yet he does not douse in self-pity or any destructive behavior but immediately starts building himself to works towards ascertaining the truth behind his burn notice which would take a very long time and many set backs and failures. Despite, or perhaps because of this, he's a very skilled spy, using his abilities to help others in trouble. Unlike any fellow spies he's met who kill for profit. Michael has a strong sense of empathy and refuses to kill anyone unless it's really necessary or if he's been pushed to a point which is shown when he shoots Tom Strickler in "Long Way Back". He's also extremely protective of his friends, family and clients, looks after their interests, and is unwilling to let anyone endanger them even if it does mean giving into his enemy's demands sometimes. Michael also has been shown to not be quick to let go of a grudge with someone, especially if they endangered his friends and family and even if they were on his side. A perfect example is when Virgil Watkins returned to Miami for Mike's help. He told Virgil to stay away from Madeline and not call her until he's back in the Bahamas, showing that he still hadn't forgiven Virgil for putting her life in danger last time he was there. Skills & Talents Michael is highly skilled and extremely clever, displaying his abilities by quickly thinking on his feet, improvising electronic devices from commonly available commercial equipment (e.g. radios, cell phones etc.) and using ordinary items (ranging from duct tape to cake frosting) in highly unorthodox ways in order to complete a job. Michael also became an expert martial artist, with around 30 years of training and experience in karate. Westen has also demonstrated proficiency in the Russian martial art Sambo. He has received special operations training, has combat experience on 5 continents, and remarked that he holds "a rating with any weapon that shoots a bullet or holds an edge". Michael speaks several different accents that help him act out different persona, including Southern accent, Boston accent, Irish accent, etc. He has shown proficiency and fluency in Russian, Farsi, and Arabic. Throughout the series, Michael has, ironically, shown little to no knowledge of Spanish, but by the time he was sent to the Dominican Republic, he had learned to fluently speak Spanish. Michael has profound knowledge in the art of war that helps him create strategies and tactics in various combat situations such as seizing, breaching, defending, high-speed chasing, and capturing enemies. Almost more than half of his preformed plans often has to be altered due to unknown factors such as intrusion of new enemy personnel, reduction of collateral damage, or entering unfavorable terrains. He has demonstrated incredible improvisation skills that often turned the tides of the battles. Michael often uses pyschological warfare as the key component of his missions. He often prioritizes finding out enemy weaknesses and focuses on intimidating the enemies into hiding or deceives them until they are forced to fight the local law enforcements, rival enemies, or each other. Thus he is not an unstoppable jaugernaut who can take down an army on his own but more of a virus who will break his adversaries from within systematically with wit, knowledge, and unbreakable conviction to uphold justice. To orchestrate such plans, he is aware of the behaviors, structures, and rules of various types of criminals such as local drug lords and international arms dealers as well as the those of law enforment agencies and other clandestine services such as the police, FBI, and NSA. He has also studied interrogation tactics that are effective without the use of brutal coercion. Though not on par with a medical professional, Michael has sufficient knowledge of the human body to apply emergency treatment on the field and gauge the physiological changes of operatives in calmer situations such as stake-outs to intense firefights. In addition to his trade-craft, Michael has also studied civilian life and behaviors such as the innerworkings of night clubs. His knowledge of banking and finance has proven pivotal to his missions. Perhaps his most important skill is his ability to blend in and lie by assuming different identities which has helped him infiltrate criminal organizations located in both foreign and domestic. Background Information & Notes *Michael appears to favor the SIG Sauer P228 (9x19mm) as his primary sidearm which is known to be easy to conceal. In season four, he appears to have changed his weapon to the larger and more modern Heckler and Koch P30 (9x19mm) which has a bigger capacity and superior ergonomics than the P228. The P30 is given to him by Cole, the former US marine turned hitman in "Center of the Storm", to replace the P228 which Cole disposed of and as a reward for helping him escape from his ruthless clients. *Michael appears to favor Emerson knives, especially the Karambit, though which one is hard to identify. He threatens Larry with it after Larry uses Mike's name to get close with the Drug Cartels. In one episode, however, he uses a Benchmade 3300 Infidel. *Michael's signature sunglasses are made by Oliver Peoples, and the style is called "Victory". In the episode "Broken Rules", Michael claimed he got the sunglasses from an Algerian special ops soldier he tangled with who "didn't need them anymore." *Michael seems to have a fondness for yogurt (particularly Blueberry) as he is often seen talking about it and eating it in various episodes. In the episode "Broken Rules" he blackmails Jason Bly by showing him multiple embarrassing photos, one of them of the agent breaking inside Michael's home without a warrant and eating his yogurt. Later seasons have reduced the emphasis on Michael's favorite snack, but yogurt still makes occasional appearances. In the episode "Mixed Messages" we find out Michael picked up his yogurt habit from his training officer, Tom Card. While at Card's office we see him still enjoying yogurt. *Michael usually wears an Armani suit similar to Leonard Shelby in Memento. *When secretly breaking into a person's home, Michael tends to snack on food items in the person's kitchen, such as tortilla chips and yogurt. *Michael also tends to whistle whenever he's impressed. *His car is a black 1973 Dodge Charger which was destroyed in "Last Stand" when he detonates a large amount of explosives to buy time for them to get away from Management's Tactical Team. *Although he grew up in Miami, Michael doesn't speak Spanish. But since "New Deal", it appears that he's gotten much better at it. *Michael snores when he sleeps. In the pilot episode, when Fiona wakes up Michael after his flight to Miami, a portion of air movement during his breathing is obstructed. You can also find the same section in the prologue narration at the beginning of each episode. References External links * USA Burn Notice: Michael Westen Character Bio at USA.com * Burned in Miami: Michael Westen, an unofficial fansite. * Jonas found out that his middle name was Alan. Category:People Category:Westen family Category:Season 1 characters Category:Season 2 characters Category:Season 3 characters Category:Season 4 characters Category:Season 5 characters Category:Main Characters